We continue our National Cybersecurity Awareness Month series with a post from the Domestic Ports Division of the Office of Port and Facility Compliance that discusses the important contributions the 43 Area Maritime Security Committees make at local levels to address cyber threats and vulnerabilities. In this post, we focus on the teamwork and cooperation of the AMSCs in Northern New England, the Sault Region, Hawaii and American Samoa, and Charleston, S.C.

In March, we announced the winners of the Rear Admiral Richard E. Bennis Award for Excellence in maritime security. Since April, leaders from around the Coast Guard have presented awards to the five winners. Rear Adm. John Nadeau, assistant commandant for prevention policy, made the final presentation this week, and Maritime Commons is sharing additional details about the achievements that earned the five winners this prestigious award.

The Coast Guard published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register June 22, 2018 to delay the effective date for certain facilities affected by the final rule entitled “Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Reader Requirements,” which was published in the Federal Register Aug. 23, 2016. The Coast Guard proposes to delay the effective date for two categories of facilities by three years, until Aug. 23, 2021.

Annual AMSC reports are an important tool used to compile and share information pertaining to AMSC issues such as: committee organization, training events, challenges, accomplishments, best practices, and recommendations. These efforts ensure the Coast Guard and the maritime communities maintain alignment with national preparedness goals, strategies, and reporting requirements, and ultimately serve to improve AMSC effectiveness nationwide.

The MBI concluded that the primary cause of the casualty was the decision to navigate El Faro too close to the path of Hurricane Joaquin. As the MBI expanded the investigation to explore other contributing factors, it uncovered evidence of an ineffective safety management system within the operating company, and failures by both the Coast Guard delegated representative and the Coast Guard itself to provide effective oversight of the vessel’s compliance with safety regulations.

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Rear Adm. Paul Thomas, assistant commandant for prevention policy, recently met with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Cyber Resilience for an open discussion regarding cyber risk management in the marine transportation system (MTS).

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This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.